- Date Of Birth: September 29, 1935
- Date Of Death: January 31, 2017
- State: Florida
Ronald B. Cagle
September 29, 1935-January 31, 2017
A Man for All Seasons—A Man for All Reasons
On January 31st, 2017, the world lost a true patriot, and I lost my true hero.
He was born in Palm Beach, Florida, auspiceciously in the aftermath of a major hurricane, to Brooks Duncan Cagle and Lillian Elenore Cagle on September 29, 1935, now deceased. He is survived by his loving wife, Judith Ann Cagle; his son Ryan Bradly Cagle, (Jennifer), his grandsons Jared and Jacob, his granddaughter Aeryn; and his son Darren Ross Cagle. He is also survived by his adoring sisters, Ronda Carolyn (Cagle) Davis (Charles), Janice (Cagle) Summers (Gino), and his brother, John Thaddeus Cagle (Karin). He is also survived by his loving stepgrandson, Joshua Benjamin Mince, whom he raised as his own. In addition, he is survived by many nieces and nephews.
His leadership became evident early during his fraternity days, and later as a cowboy and electrician. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics, and went on to Stetson University to earn his Master’s Degree in Business. He served in the U.S. Army, leading teams of technicians in the electronics communications field in Germany.
When he left the U.S. Army, he applied his expertise with Pratt & Whitney, where he led efforts in testing jet propulsion rocket motors. After surviving many dangerous incidents in this new field, he left Pratt & Whitney for a position at Philco-Ford Corporation. Initially leading activities in tracking satellites whose orbit passed over Alaska, he then moved to Palo Alto to participate in the design of state-of-the-art antenna systems. Still with Philco-Ford, he joined the newly-formed Manned Space Center in Houston as Telemetry Manager. During his tenure at the space center, he worked with Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, participating in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Programs to put a man on the moon. By that time, Ronald had taken over as NASA Marketing Manager, requiring him to travel the globe. On one of his trips to Cape Canaveral, he was invited to join the Missile, Space and Range Pioneers. He left Philco-Ford to lead the effort for the conversion of the Mobile Launcher Platform and the Crawler Transporter from the Apollo to the Space Shuttle configuration. He was recruited to join Harris Corporation, where he successfully lead many global electronics communications programs, and retired in the 1990’s.
During his career, he shared his leadership qualities in community activities. He was founder and president of HOAs and the National Firearms Association. He enjoyed snow skiing, river rafting, competition shooting, canoeing, camping, hunting, fishing, wood-working and bird-watching. He founded and operated several private businesses, including Sports International, and Modern Management. He authored a number of books on the topic of management, and invented numerous products that were patented. During his lifetime he received many awards for his outstanding leadership. He was a man who had a great faith in God and love of country. Ronald B. Cagle was a man of honor. He will be severely missed by all who were fortunate enough to know the man.
